Horseman Douglas ‘Sonny’ Rankin has been a staple of Nova Scotia’s harness racing industry for decades, and it has been announced that he will soon be immortalized in the Cape Breton Sport Heritage Hall of Fame.
Rankin will be inducted into the hall in the builder/athlete category on Saturday, June 1. The induction will come during a gala ceremony at Centre 200 in Sydney.
As an article by the Cape Breton Post explains, Rankin’s driving career was cut short in the early ‘90s due to a serious back injury, but not before he could register impressive numbers in the sulky.
The article goes on to state that Rankin, who remained active as a judge, still gets his racing fix by training horses every morning at Northside Downs.
“There’s a three-year-old and two-year-old I’m going with and I’ll be here every day and mucking the stalls,” Rankin said. “I enjoy doing that stuff. It keeps me going.”
Sonny Rankin, pictured jogging a Standardbred at Northside Downs.To read the article in its entirety, click here.
(With files from the Cape Breton Post)